National Republican., 1887-11-30

Democratic grand total malority...... 3, 100
There has hardly ever been seen a more
exquisite piece Of humor than the going
back to 1885, taking the vote polled then
in number Of counties, and counting In
the election held three weeks ago. or
course the Dispatch intended this as a
burlesque. No one would seriously make
such claim. 1t may be that the DispItch
when it said. "add Lee vote,n meant the
vote polled for Henry Lee for governor In
1871. There Is Just as much propriety In
counting that as there would be In counting
the votes for Fltzhugh Lee to swell pre-
tended Democratic majority.
We say 'a pretended Democratic major
ity," with full knowledge OF the meaning
of the words, and use them in the very broad
est tsense, adding thatH i,d pretended mljor-
iywhich he boayd Cf caras3erf nut Tie Dis
patch kHoD does not crist, aHd that tie .dy.
Wes on .die il, tie Secretary Of Stlte', office
pt.rc docs not erist, mhich is He reason these
,Gg,TcS are not PuJl'shed.
To prove this assertion we need only tu
quote further from the Uispl,ch, and giya
the facts as to some OF the counties. Tn,
HiYa'ch, after giving the names and poll
tics Of the candidates elected, says
The board OF canyassers did not pass upon
what Is denOminated "the popular vote"
Their duty was done when they ascertained
who ac }Ording to the returns, were elected to
the two houses. The compilation and foot
inGs above were made by the Dispatch, aud to
ascertain the Democratic vote the highest vote
cast in city or county for a Democratic can
hp tq
can vote similarly, is the vote of the highest
Republican candidate. No note is taken of
the scattering vote 1t was considerable
1000, probably-but appears to have been
drawn equally from the two parties. IN a tc,O
counties nc rOtcs cast for "IRdCpendGm Repubi-
CGns' wW he found IN he Democratic COitlnR
Nearly all the votes they got were given by
Democrats, but they could not bring out any
thing like the full Democratic strength, judg
ing by Henrico, where the Democratic vote
was 900 or COO short ofwhat II usually is. In
some counties men protesting TO be Democrats
were supported by the Republicans. These
votes are all credited TO the Republicans
though without a doubt some belong to the
Democratic column, This was about the only
way division into Democrats and "RepIb-
leans could be made. 1t is not exact, but
seems near enough for all practical purposes
The italics In the above quoted sentence
tell the story, dissipate the 42O Democratic
majority, and turn II into a Republican
majority OF several thousand. Besides
which, these words give the reason why
'the board Of canvassers did not pass upon
what is denominated the popular vote {"
Counting the votes for the Independent
Republicans, the Republicans, and the
Democrats, in separate columns, showed a
Republican plurality. Putting the Inde.
pendent Republican vote uhere il belonged,
in the Republican column, 1t showed large
Republican majority, and the "board OF
Canvassers," consisting OF Gov. Lee, Au-
ditOr Marye, Treasurer Harmon, Secretary
Flournoy, aud Attorney General Ayers, did
not want TO show that,
"ln a few counties the votes cast for in
dependent Republicans will be found In
the Democratic column" says the DispG'ch
In Nansemond county Mr.. G. II. Causey
had Just closed his term as a Republican
senator, tried to and failed TO secure the
nomination, then bolted, aud ran US an
"Indeperdent Republican" lie Is a
straightout Republican, and very popular
in his county. The ITO votes polled for
him "are found in the Democratic column
they belong In the Republican. In Norfolk
county Mr., Sykes ran as an Independent
Republican. "The Democratic column"
has 5C3 votes from Norfolk, all Of which
were given for Mr.. Sykes, and belong In the
Republican column. In Scott county Mr..
Broadwater ran as an "Independent Repub-
lIcan," and the POI votes for him belong
in the Republican column, but are put in the
Democratic.
There are number OF other counties In
which Independent Republicans ran, and
"the votes cast for them will be found In
Democratic column" but then these
enough TO show why "the board OF
Anyassers did not pass upon what is de.
nominated the popular vote" and how the
Uipath manufactures a Democratic ma,
loity Of 400.
The votes polled for Independent Repub-
leans in those three counties and added into
the Democratic column by the DisPatch